note (text)
This Book of Hours of the use of Noyon, produced at the end of the fifteenth century, contains ten large miniatures, as well as five small inset miniatures and an historiated initial illustrating the Passion of Christ. The style of the illumination suggests that this manuscript was produced in Amiens. The text is for a patron in Picardy, most likely one from Noyon: the Use conforms to those in other books known to be from Noyon, and the Litany includes Saint Médard (fol. 77r), who translated his see to Noyon from Vermand in 531. The book begins with a series of unnumbered flyleaves integral to the book block, which contain an rhyming original ownership inscription in French and a rhyming couplet about health and money, as well as the ownership inscriptions of subsequent seventeenth- and eighteenth-century French owners. The book begins with a calendar, followed by the Gospel Lessons, which are introduced with a miniature of Saint John on Patmos (fol. 16r). The Passion according to Saint John occurs next. It is prefaced with a large miniature of the Agony in the Garden (fol. 21r), and is punctuated by smaller miniatures showing: Christ with Apostles and Soldiers (fol. 20r); the Arrest of Christ (the unique historiated initial, fol. 23r); Christ before Pilate (fol. 24v); the Flagellation (fol. 25r); and the Crucifixion (fol. 25v). The Obsecro te and O intemerata prayers occur next, prior to the Hours of the Virgin, which is illustrated with miniatures of the Annunciation (fol. 35r); Visitation (fol. 42r); Nativity (fol. 49r); Annunciation to the Shepherds (fol. 52v); Adoration of the Magi (fol. 55r); and Flight into Egypt (fol. 60v). Atypically, there are no miniatures for Nones and Compline, and the text of the Hours of the Virgin runs continuously, without page breaks for the beginning of each Hour. The Penitential Psalms are introduced by a miniature of the penitent King David (fol. 68v) and the Office of the Dead is introduced by a miniature depicting the Raising of Lazarus. The final section of the book, which is unillustrated, is comprised of the Seven Prayers of Saint Gregory followed by two Prayers of Pope Leo, the Seven Joys of the Virgin, a prayer to the Five Feasts of the Virgin, the Stabat Mater, and the "O illustrissima et excellentissima..." prayer to the Virgin.
